Maintaining the Ecosystem in Welirang

The dodo was a fascinating creature which once lived in harmony with other animals on this planet. But now their existence is considered a myth. They have become extinct. These days, we can only recognize a dodo from pictures in books.

The extinction of dodo is only one of hundreds of other mistakes man does to nature. It is due to our indifference and exploitation that one by one species of animals and plants begin to grow rare, then endangered, and finally: extinct.

Environmentalists say that we interfere too much with the course of nature. Perhaps they are right. It is therefore important to build national parks where hunting is strictly prohibited by government laws.

Mount Welirang, on which slope my family resides, is the home of the protected Javanese deer. Now, the deer have a natural enemy: the jackals. Unlike the jackals of Asia, Europe and Eurasia, the Javanese jackals more resemble dogs. They’ve got slender body and slim, long shanks that enable them to run swiftly. They’ve got pointed ears and coarse black coat. As most jackals do, the Javanese jackals hunt deer, especially newly-born fawns. Since the deer are protected, rangers would patrol the forest with guns to shoot any jackal that is sighted.

This leads to jackal slaughter! Protection against one species of animals results in the endangerment of another!

Some jackals, realizing their existence is threatened, often sneak into villages and mix-mate with mongrels. These days we often find jackal pups that are born with velvety brown or dotted coat, without pointed ears as most jackals are. And their disposition is much more homely, too.

The uncle of one of my friends (she resides by the forest) had a good idea when he saw these pups. He brought some of them home to Lampung and trained them to become hounds. Warthogs had often gone into people’s farms in Lampung and they needed a great number of hounds to hunt or simply keep the farms safe from warthogs.

The idea worked. Some of the hunted-down Javanese jackals now become hounds and farm keepers in Sumatra. It was a good thing that old man did. Without realizing what he was doing, he had helped maintaining the ecosystem and prevented the extinction of Javanese jackals.

And, which is more, the jackal-mongrel pups turn out to have very sweet disposition that they can adapt quickly to living with humans. They are truly suitable for guarding the house and rid our homes from pests. And they are loyal and very friendly as well!

I know so. I have adopted three jackal-mongrel pups from Welirang Forest. They are the best friends and most obedient pets I have ever had!